


My Uber Driver

by comeonlight



Category: Final Fantasy XIII Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, because why not, don't look at me, trash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-11 16:35:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11718240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comeonlight/pseuds/comeonlight
Summary: Hope stayed late at work. Again. This time, he stayed a bit later than usual and has no ride home.





	My Uber Driver

Hope always knew that working late would backfire one day. The subway shut down promptly at one o'clock every morning, and didn't open back up until five. The time now was one nineteen. The buses weren't running, either, and the coworkers he occasionally carpooled with went home hours ago. Maybe by some miracle Vanille was still up and about. Hope hesitated, feeling guilty about possibly ruining her night. But he  _ really  _ needed to get home. He took a breath, and dialed her number.

“...Hope? Shouldn't you asleep by now?”  
“Uh, yeah. About that...I stayed late at the lab.”  
“What else is new?” A quiet, unintelligible noise came from Vanille’s end, followed by some clear giggling. “Sorry about that.”  
Hope paid the small disturbance no mind. It was probably just one of Fang’s shenanigans. “No, it's fine. Actually, I was wondering if it would be possible for you to do me a huge favor. The subway closed at one and-”  
Fang’s voice came through the phone. “Just call an Uber.”  
“An Uber?”  
“You're a big boy. And you've got a pretty thick wallet, yeah? You can call up a nice stranger to take you home. Now, Vanille and me need to get our sleep. Catch up with ya later.”

Fang hung up. Hope hadn’t thought of that. Uber. He'd always thought summoning total strangers for transportation to be a bit sketchy. And to his house, of all places...but he really didn't have much of a choice. Hope inhaled. “Here goes.” A number of taps on his phone later, he found himself waiting for a driver who was approximately three minutes away. They'd be in a silver Nissan. Hope considered himself more of a Toyota man, but that was probably due to bias born from him working on a few models in the past. Not that his preferences or his driver's car mattered at all. It was just a one-time thing.

Sooner than expected, an SUV came to a smooth stop in front of Hope. The window rolled down, and the driver glanced at him. “Are you Hope?” If Hope had to be honest, he’d been expecting a middle-aged man wearing a big grin and maybe smoking a cigarette. Not...a beautiful pink-haired woman. He had to do a double take to make sure that weeks of insufficient sleep weren't fooling his senses. No, she was definitely real: blue eyes, a somewhat intimidating air, and muscles obviously more powerful than his own. “...Hello?” “Sorry!” Hope said, snapping out of his daze. “My apologies! Yes, I'm Hope. I'll get in the car now.” He pulled on the door handle and fumbled into the passenger seat with his briefcase. This was going to be quite the ride. Hope closed the door, secured his seatbelt, and looked at the driver. Again. She didn't seem to notice. That, or she ignored it as she hit the gas.

“I'm sorry,” Hope said. “I didn't catch your name.” “Lightning,” the driver said. “I thought it told you in the app.” Hope checked his phone. “Oh. Maybe. Sorry, I'm new to the whole Uber thing.” “I can tell,” Lightning replied. Was that a smirk? Hope couldn't see clearly in the dark, but he thought he saw something resembling a smile on the woman's lips for a brief moment.

“Um…” Hope silently cursed his sudden incessant need for conversation. “Are you always out this late?” “Are you?” Lightning quipped, keeping her eyes on the road. She drove with both hands on the wheel, Hope noted, and stayed pretty much exactly at the speed limit. A safer driver than Fang, for sure. “I guess it just happens sometimes, huh?” “Yeah,” Lightning mumbled.

Hope held his tongue. He didn’t want to annoy his driver any further. And so there was silence. The fact that Lightning broke it after about ten seconds surprised Hope, to put it mildly. “Do you want the radio on?” In truth, Hope didn’t really listen to the radio for anything besides the news. Well, there was that one station that played classical music. “Yes, please. I actually really like the Theatrhythm classical station. Ninety-nine point thirteen ZM.” “Got it,” Lightning said, reaching for the radio controls. She turned the volume knob, and the sound of violins became audible. “You listen to this station, too?” Hope asked. Lightning put her hand back on the wheel and shrugged. “Better than anything else on.” At that, Hope smiled and relaxed a bit in his chair. “For some reason, I feel…” He fell silent, and Lightning raised her brow. “You feel…” “Just, good,” Hope finished. “You’ll feel even better when you get some rest,” Lightning said. “With that uniform, it’s safe to say you’re a researcher, right? Academia?” She was right on the mark. “That’s right.” “Then it’s also safe to assume you’re extremely tired. Hope, take care of yourself.”

The car stopped. Hope looked through the windshield to see his home. That ride had gone by so quickly. “...Is that supposed to be a lecture?” Hope replied. “Lightning, please take care as well. I’m glad I got to meet you.” Lightning nodded. “Yeah...Likewise. If you’re ever in Bodhum and need a ride, well…” “Thank you,” Hope said with a grin. “Do you have a business card?” The question seemed to surprise Lightning, who responded by taking an old receipt from her cup holder and a pen from a pouch strapped to her leg. She quickly scribbled something on the back of the receipt and handed it to Hope. “Sorry. That’ll have to do.” “It’s perfect,” Hope said with more confidence than he’d displayed all night. “Do you mind if I text you, so that you have my number?” For some reason, that made Lightning smile. “Go ahead.” Hope’s face lit up with unabashed joy at her response. “I will! I mean...Thank you again. Please enjoy your night.” He finally exit the car, and Lightning watched as he walked to his front door.

Lightning sighed. What an awkward,  _ handsome  _ man with a good taste in music. And he was pretty polite, albeit strange in a way. But overall he was far more pleasant than any of her former clients, for whatever reason. For Lightning, being an Uber driver was nothing more than a way to get some extra gil between modeling gigs. She never expected anything more from it; certainly not to exchange numbers with a client. Objectively, it was stupid and unprofessional. Subjectively, it was stupid, unprofessional, and a fortunate twist of fate. Lightning would come to realize that last part when she drove Hope back from a fantastic dinner in two months’ time.


End file.
